Two Key Players in Britain's Hacking Trial

INTERNATIONAL SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 2013 Kenyan press up in arms over ‘draconian’ media bill NAIROBI: Kenya’s media reacted with has written away the media’s rights,” new bill will effectively hand the govern- also has the power to seize the property of shock and outrage yesterday after parlia- wrote the paper, a pillar of Kenya’s bur- ment “a stranglehold over the media”, an offender if a fine is not paid. ment voted through a bill that could see geoning and vibrant independent media. while The Standard said democracy and According to the Daily Nation, “even journalists and outlets slapped with huge “It is a frightening place, and it is valid to free speech in Kenya had been “dealt a one fine is enough to cripple most FM sta- fines for violating a code of conduct. In a ask: what is there to prevent Parliament major blow” and lambasted the bill as tions”. It also said the measures could late-night sitting Thursday, MPs voted to from simply sweeping away the inde- “draconian”. The passing of the bill comes have a devastating effect on what it set up and appoint a new pendence of the judiciary tomorrow?” the amid a string of measures to reinforce described as Kenya’s “lively blogosphere”. Communications and Multimedia Appeals paper said, challenging the bill as uncon- national security in the wake of the “By silencing the media, politicians know Tribunal with the teeth to impose penal- stitutional. September’s attack by Islamist gunmen on they can do whatever they like with ties of up to 20 million Kenyan shillings “This law is draconian and very puni- the Westgate shopping mall. impunity. No one will ever know,” wrote (173,000 euros, $234,000) on offenders tive and we reject it,” said Cyrus Kamau, Kenya media drew the ire of authorities Nation journalist Mutuma Mathiu, describ- and even bar journalists from working. managing director for Capital Group- by broadcasting security camera footage ing the Kenyan media as a key source of The bill, which is pending approval by home to CapitalFM, one of Kenya’s most of troops who were dispatched to the checks and balances in public life. President Uhuru Kenyatta, would also her- respected independent radio stations and scene of the attack purportedly robbing “Left to themselves, politicians would ald strict controls on radio and television news websites. He said the new media tri- the upmarket mall. bankrupt the country and take us back to broadcasts, with stations obliged to bunal “will always be biased because it’s Police chief David Kimaiyo reacted by hunting and gathering,” he wrote. Kenyan ensure that 45 percent of programme an extension of the government,” and that summoning two journalists and a media lawmakers have been the target of public content and advertising is locally-made. In restrictions on content and advertising executive for questioning, although the anger in the past. a furious attack on the bill, The Daily would damage Kenya’s place in the global summons was retracted following a media In May they voted to overturn cuts Nation newspaper said the bill “puts the economy. “I hope the president will listen outcry. Under the new bill, media houses ordered by the national salaries com- country in the same ranks with Zimbabwe, to us, and we appeal to him to reject this can be fined up to 20 million Kenyan mission and reinstate their hefty Cuba, Ethiopia and Kuwait” and had set bill and return it to the MPs,” he said. shillings and individual journalists up to salaries of around 532,000 shillings Kenya “firmly on the path of regression one million with the additional risk of (4,800 euros, around 6,200 dollars) a into the era of darkness.” ‘Stranglehold over the media’ being “de-listed”, or barred from receiving month tax-free-ranked among the “In one dramatic swoop, parliament According to The Star newspaper, the official press accreditation. The tribunal highest in the world. — AFP Israel ‘bombs’ Syria Two key players in Britain’s Continued from Page 1 criss-crossing the region to rally support for the so-called hacking trial ‘were lovers’ Geneva II talks. But Syria’s opposition has refused to attend unless President Bashar al-Assad’s resignation is on the table-a demand rejected by Damascus-and powerful rebel groups UK editor accused of hacking said ‘do his phone’ have warned that participants would be considered traitors. “If the opposition does not participate there will be no Geneva LONDON: Former News of the World editors conference,” Brahimi told reporters in Damascus before travel- Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson were hav- ling to Beirut. The veteran Algerian diplomat, who met with ing an affair for much of the time they were Assad on Wednesday, said his government had agreed to take allegedly involved in phone hacking at the part in the talks and that the opposition was “trying to find a Rupert Murdoch-owned tabloid, a London way to be represented”. court heard. Prosecutor Andrew Edis said The main opposition National Coalition plans to meet Thursday the affair, from 1998 to 2004, proved November 9 to decide whether to attend the Geneva talks, but “they trusted each other” and supported charges that they conspired to hack phones to key bloc member Syrian National Council threatened to quit if glean stories for the newspaper, which was it does so. Yesterday the Coalition criticized the Assad regime renowned for its celebrity scoops until for its “lack of courage to respond” to the reported Israeli Murdoch closed it in disgrace two years ago. strikes. “The Assad regime has managed to transform the Brooks edited the News of the World from Syrian army into a tool that kills the people rather than protect- 2000 to 2003, when her deputy Coulson took ing them, and that turns a blind eye against the (Israeli) ene- over as editor. A close confidante of my’s attacks,” it said. Murdoch’s, Brooks went on to become chief The reports of the Israeli strike came as the Organization for executive of his British newspaper operations the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons said all of Syria’s chemi- while Coulson became Prime Minister David cal arms were under “tamper proof” seals. Some 1,000 tons of Cameron’s media chief. Both Brooks and chemical agents and 290 tons of chemical weapons “have Coulson deny hacking and related allegations been placed under seals that are impossible to break,” OPCW in the high-profile trial at the Old Bailey in spokesman Christian Chartier said Thursday. London, which also involves six other defen- The OPCW also said Syria’s chemical arms production dants including Brooks’ current husband. equipment had been destroyed. Inspectors had until yester- Her affair with Coulson was revealed in a LONDON: Rebekah Brooks, former News International chief executive, and her day to destroy all production and filling equipment in accor- love letter dated February 2004 that was husband Charlie arrive for the phone-hacking trial at the Old Bailey court yes- dance with a timeline laid down by the OPCW and a UN found on her computer, the court heard. She terday. — AFP Security Council resolution. The resolution, stating that the apparently wrote it in response to Coulson’s arsenal must be destroyed by mid-2014, followed a US-Russian efforts to end the relationship. Both were we laugh and cry together. Mulcaire has since admitted phone hacking, deal to avert military strikes on Syria after chemical weapons married at the time-Brooks wed her first hus- “In fact without our relationship in my life I as has another member of the team, senior attacks near Damascus in August that killed hundreds of peo- band, actor Ross Kemp, in 2002. Coulson mar- am not sure I will cope.” The affair dominated journalist Greg Miskiw. ple. The West blamed those attacks on Assad’s regime, which ried in 2000 and has two children. Edis said he Britain’s newspapers yesterday, turning the Meanwhile, Andy Coulson, a former editor denied responsibility. made no “moral judgement” about the tables on a couple whose former paper was for Rupert Murdoch and Prime Minister David IHS Jane’s, a defense consulting firm, hailed the OPCW defendants, who sat next to each other in the renowned for exposing celebrity infidelities. Cameron’s ex-media chief, instructed one of his dock, Brooks’ head bowed and Coulson look- The Daily Telegraph, Guardian, Daily Mail and journalists involved in an exclusive story on a “milestone” but cautioned the work was far from over, noting ing towards the prosecutor. But the lawyer Independent all carried cover pictures of the well-known figure to “do his phone”, a London Syria’s entire arsenal was still under regime control. More than told the jury: “Mrs Brooks and Mr Coulson are couple, while the headline “Editors and court heard yesterday. Coulson, along with fel- 120,000 people have been killed in the 31-month rebellion charged with conspiracy, and when people lovers: couple at heart of hacking trial” low former News of the World editor Rebekah against the Assad regime triggered by his bloody crackdown are charged with conspiracy the first question topped the front-page of Murdoch title the Brooks, and two senior News International on Arab Spring-inspired democracy protests. On the battle- a jury has to answer is, how well did they Times. employees is accused of conspiring to hack field, regime troops battered rebel-held areas of southern know each other? How much did they trust phones. He and Brooks also face two charges Damascus to cut them off from rear bases in the countryside, each other? ‘Dog-eat-dog’ journalism each of making illegal payments to public offi- said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

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